Everlasting Fire
by Nilinara
Summary: I was offered a chance at the treasure of a lifetime, not the kind that was in gold but much more valuable. I was offered adventure and my greatest wishes to come true, so is it any wonder that I accepted the deal on the spot. Little did I then know, that I would have to go trough hell to reach it and then do my best to not lose it all. SI-Marco, Immortal!Marco (eventually)
1. Chapter 1: Ashes

**Everlasting Fire**

 _Chapter I: Ashes_

' _CRASH'_

I sigh and close the book I was reading, there was no way I would be able to continue with all the noise they are making.

' _CRASH'_

That's yet another thing they have broken during these fights. They should get a divorce already, it's obvious they hate each other and I'll never understand how they have stayed married for twenty years.

It certainly not for me. The fact that I survived childhood was sort of a miracle given that they acted like they did not have a son at all. I honestly considered myself an orphan.

' _CRASH! CRASH!'_

I winched as their fight grew louder, by now I'm sure the whole neighborhood could hear them. It would but everyone that heard them in a worse than normal.

As if anyone needed that, it should be enough that we had to live through a second cold war. Everything was so tense I expected that all able bodies (so to speak) was called in to military service.

That was one reason I was currently reading **The Art of War** by Sun Tzu. I was not sure how much use it would be in the 21th century but I was bound to be of at least some use. I also found it somewhat inspiring.

' _CRASH'_

Okay, that's it. I better go and read in the underground shelter, at least that place was soundproof.

"I'm going out!"

' _CRASH'_

Oh well, it wasn't like I expected an answer. Even if a _"Don't stay out to late Markus!"_ would have been nice.

It was raining as I tracked my way to the underground shelter but I ignored it except for pulling my book to my chest. For a moment I saw a white light up the sky and less the seconds later…

' _BOOM'_

Great, a lightning storm. This day just keep getting better and better. I shut the door of the firmly after me, finally blocking out all sound. No sound of fighting or lightning (oh that rhymed, I did not plan that) only silence.

Sweet, Sweet silence.

I picked up some of the blankets that was stored in the shelter and wrapped myself up on one of the benches.

Finally some time for myself to read in peace. Silent moments like these were greatly treasured by me. It was not that I disliked sound, it was just that I had not heard any sounds I actually liked (except maybe the sound of waves).

The lamp in the flickered and went out, leaving me in complete darkness. It seemed this day was not going my way. First the fight, then the lightning storm and now this blackout.

I reluctantly closed my copy of **The Art of War** and placed it on the floor, I might as well try get some sleep until the electricity got back.

The electricity had yet to return when I woke up, it was still dark. It didn't really mattered as I didn't plan on staying in the shelter any longer. I reached for the place I remembered that I put my book earlier and it took me some minutes finding it in the dark even then.

Keeping my free hand (the one not holding my book) towards the wall I made my way to where the door was located. I managed to get a hold of the door handle and proceed to push the door open…

…only it refused to budge.

I tried multiple more times, but the result stayed the same.

My mood took a turn for the worst, this situation really made me anger and a bit disappointing in how my life had turned out so far. Parents that ignored me, no friends, a world that would be ruined by war at any moment and the unavoidable fate of only becoming another foot soldier in the future.

This was not the life I hoped for when that woman Anathea a second chance at life after my pointless death.

" _Not what you expected, huh?"_

The sentence passed through my head in a voice that was not mine, but one that I vaguely recognized.

"Anathea?"

My voice was hesitant as I was half sure I had just imagined it all.

" _One day all this will be worth it. Continue to survive, endure. For now all I'll give you is light."_

The next moment the electricity was back and I now could see were everything in the shelter was.

It was doubtful that I would be able to get out of here for some time, so I better check how much food the place was stocked with (having the shelters' stocked with food was standard protocol after all).

What Anathea has told me will be true, after all she had never really been wrong before. At least that was what I had heard before I was sent packing for this life permanently.

All I should focus on now is surviving in this place, in this shelter.

Days blurred together, endlessly.

The food that had been stored in the shelter was running out, even though I had tried to make it last for as long as possible. I have no idée how long I have been stuck here but it had at least be for a few months.

My body was weaker then when I got stuck in this place as a consequence of my situation. I spend most of my time sleeping to preserve energy.

It would have been so easy then to just give in to the all pressing loneliness and isolation that made me suffer in a way that I never thought possible. And there was still no way out of the place I now saw more as a prison then the shelter it was meant to be.

It was when I reached the brink of my endurance for this cage that I was finally was released. Something from the outside broke through the shelters' walls as I was sleeping. When I awoke the opening was there and I took it without looking back.

I never bothered to find out what made it but I could care for nothing but the freedom I had just gained.

But the world that decided to meet me as I embraced that freedom…

…was nothing…

…but ashes.

 **AN: I apologize for any mistakes in this piece and that I have not posted another chapter for my ongoing stories (for those that care), but this has been on my mind for hours. I have currently stayed up all night to finish this idée in one go. If I didn't it would have likely been left to collect dust somewhere but I'm proud of this.**

 **I hope to continue this at some point, but I will not promise anything as I doubt I would keep the same standard as this first chapter unless the urge to write it suddenly hit me again. OMG I have never written a chapter of over 1000 words before I'm so proud of myself. :D**

 **I should go now. I really need some sleep, I have a buss, a train and another buss to catch later today.**

 **Yeah, better go, I'm starting to have a hard time stop writing nonsense now.**

 **Have a good day/afternoon/night everyone**


	2. Chapter 2: Colors'

**Everlasting Fire**

 **Chapter 2: Colors'**

* * *

Red, black and gray.

Ever since I had left the shelter those were the only colors I had seen. Even the once moss green blanket I had brought with me had lost its color to the grey from the dust left frim destroyed buildings.

The sky stayed stubbornly red as long as it held any light, only letting for the darkness on night.

What had been left of the food from the shelter had long since been eaten and my hunger had reached the point where I could only feel numb as my body steadily grew weaker.

Everything around me was ruins of what I once knew had been my homelands capital, some of the rubble was still burning. The only reason I even recognized the capital was because some of the ruins where recognizable and I had walked amongst them for what felt like an eternity.

It did not matter much anyhow, the water in the destroyed harbor reflected the same colors as everything else, red, black and gray. At the very least you could still hear the waves, it was a little calming.

Almost hypnotizing.

So when I left the ruins I stayed close to the shoreline, letting it take me wherever it led. From those vague memories I had of before all this destruction, I got the feeling that it was leading me south.

I did not really have a destination in mind, only this urge to keep walking. Maybe at some point I would find something to eat, or collapse and die of starvation.

Whichever one came first.

Probably the first one as I in no way could imagine Anathea had sent me here only to die in such a pathetic manner. After all, I could not imagine that she had in any way found my life up till now to be entertaining.

And in the end, that had been her reason for granting me this second chance in the first place.

If only she could tell me something, just so I could hear a voice that was different from my own. I am sure that I'm on the brink of insanity, talking to yourself if supposed to be the first sign of it.

Not like anyone could judge me beside me, and Anathea.

If only…

I kept on walking.

* * *

I'm sure it has been at least three days since I last saw any signs of human presence. It took even more effort to push myself forward.

Only past these hills. I repeated that sentence so many times that I found the amount of hill before me more surprising then with myself somehow passing them.

One more hill, and I'll rest for a bit.

* * *

Only, when I got past that last hill.

What I saw, would be described by others (that had not experienced the hell I had been walking through for days now) as the most horrible clash of colors.

To me though, for one that had only seen the world in three color' for so long, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen up until that point.

There was so many colors'.

Because, beyond that last hill í found the most otherworldly forest imaginable.

I would have said the forest had the colors of the rainbow, but that would have been understatement. That forest contained every shade of every color you could imagine.

All the bright contrasts of all those colors made me blink like I just had stepped out into a sunny day from a dark abyss.

It hurt.

My eyes stubbornly refused to observe the sight before me in any detail, only as a massive blur of colors'.

Only that first glance I had been given of it told me it was a forest, only that first glance.

" _That's a rather strange forest, what do you think? Made it myself."_

'There she was again. After she left me all alone in this living hell for God knows how long. How dare she, it's her fault I'm stuck in this position to begin with. I should not have accepted her offer at a second chance in the first place.'

'Any possible afterlife that my old world would have been preferable to what I had lived through in this world up to this point.'

" _Don't be like that. I never meant for you to suffer through all this."_

'Sure, is that why you let me be reborn into a dysfunctional family and then survive what seems to be world war three?'

" _I did not intend for that. I just… kind of…"_

Her voice made it apparent that she felt guilty about something.

'What did you do?'

" _Well… I might have accidentally dropped your soul a couple of thousand years earlier in the timeline then I was supposed to."_

'…'

That revelation had me at a loss for words.

" _And before you ask: No, I can't pick you up and drop you off at the right time period. Well, dot unless you feel like letting me kill you."_

This time her voice was both serious and apologetic

" _So if you don't want to die I could do that (not that I want to) or you just have to live through your current situation."_

The mention of dying sent a cold tear down my spine. My first experience of dying and then being dead was not something I wanted to repeat.

'I guess I'll just have to suffer through this then.'

" _That's great, I don't have to kill you. Now all you ha…"_

'But,' I interrupted her 'you could at least keep me company through this.'

" _Huh? I was under the impression that you did not appreciate my presence here."_

'I prefer your company to no company at all right now. Not to mention that this is a result of your mistake in the first place.'

" _I guess that's fair. But if you're done now you need to get down there and eat one of the fruits."_

Anathea's voice held a tone of finality to it so I painfully started to make my way down to the forest with powers I did not know I still possessed.

The fact that the forests colors' did not bother my eyes anymore would at least in part have to be because of Anathea.

" _Of course."_

'So you decided to stay after all. Do you plan on commenting on everything I do and thinks?'

" _Maybe. What else did you expect when you asked me to keep you company?"_

I gave in to the eye roll I found appropriate to the situation, but I decided not to answer her. The moment I reached the edge of the forest I reached for the closest fruit from a nearby tree, said fruit looked like a giant strawberry with a swirly pattern in yellow and pink.

" _No. No. No. Not that one, that's the wrong fruit."_

'What? What do you mean by the wrong fruit? I have not eaten anything in what feels like forever.'

" _Then I say explain this quickly. If you eat more than one of those fruits you will die and if don't eat a specific one you will cause a time paradox. And those are no fun at all, just so you know."_

'Which one can I eat then?'

" _The one that looks like a golden apple."_

'Really? A golden apple? You mean I have to find a golden apple in this forest?'

" _Jepp, that's what I'm saying. Better start looking."_

"Fine."

Judging how big this forest had seemed when I first saw it, finding the right fruit would be a pain in the neck.

'Is it too late to just let you kill me?"

" _Suck it up."_

'Well, I guess I better get used to these colors' then.'

 **AN: I really should write a chapter to one of my other stories but this one was the only one I had inspiration for at the moment.**

 **Also when I started writing this chapter I was afraid that I would not reach the 1000 words mark. And then Anathea just happened and made me go well over the mark. So much over in fact that I decided to cut off early and save my intended ending scene to the chapter until chapter 3 instead.**

 **Well, that's all for me. Until next time. See ya! :)**


End file.
